Vitamin C’s Cancer-blocking Mechanism, Proposed

Vitamin C is an antioxidant (it captures volatile oxygen free radicals) — is the prevailing theory why Vitamin C is an anti-cancer agent.

A new theory has come up: Vitamin C may block growth of tumors by destabilizing their ability to grow under oxygen-starved conditions – according to a new study from a team from The Johns Hopkins University.

The team was alerted to a new possible mechanism of antioxidant functioning when it examined cancer cells from those cancer-implanted mice that were not fed antioxidants. There was an absence of any significant DNA damage in these mice.

This led the authors to suspect some other mechanism was involved, such as a protein known to be dependent on free radicals called HIF-1 (hypoxia-induced factor).

This new finding – published and reported this week in the journal Cancer Cell – will lead in more condition-specific and therapeutic uses for Vitamin C.

Read the full report at NutraIngredients.